Victoria Police Chief Del Manak wants to hire six more officers and a civilian to reinforce his frontlines, increase traffic enforcement and step up the fight against cyber crime.
Manak, who will appear before Victoria council today said in an interview that his department needs additional troops, in part, to meet the demands of a growing population.
The department, which has 243 officers to police Victoria and Esquimalt, has not had an increase to its ranks since 2010, he said.
“Our communities are growing,” he said. “There’s more densification both in the city and Esquimalt, so to expect that the police department has no resource additions in eight years … it doesn’t make sense,” he said.
In addition, police investigations are becoming increasingly complex due to court decisions and disclosure requirements, Manak said.
“It’s still investigating maybe the same incident, but it’s taking an officer twice as long.”
Hiring would be phased in over time and cost about $400,000 in 2019.
The department, however, faces other pressures next year as well, including salary increases, fuel costs, retirements and the province’s new employer health tax.
In all, Manak wants an extra $3.2 million in 2019 for a six per cent lift to a nearly $54-million budget.
Of the six additional officers, four would be used to create a quick-response team in the downtown core to increase police presence and tackle the root causes of crime, he said.
“Right now, I don’t have that ability to be able to suppress where crime’s occurring in key areas, to provide proactive police in other areas,” he said.
“We’re just basically chasing our tail because we’ve become so responsive heavy that I don’t have that proactive ability to respond to key situations.”
A fifth officer would be specifically dedicated to traffic enforcement and education in Esquimalt, while a sixth would be assigned to tackle cyber crime.
Manak said the department has been slow to address the growing problem of cyber criminals who use the online veil of anonymity to stalk and bully people, steal identities or employ sophisticated software that holds people’s personal data hostage until a ransom is paid.
“We’re so far behind on cyber crimes that we need to really start paying attention,” Manak said.
The plan calls for the department to eventually create a joint cyber crime unit with Saanich Police, but Victoria needs to “get in the game” first, he said.
Finally, Manak also wants to hire a civilian information analyst to provide timely, accurate data to the department, the public, elected officials and members of the media.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, who co-chairs the police board, admits it will be challenging to find the money, but she supports the request.
“We know that we’re short-staffed out there in terms of officers and so I would rather fund the positions than have something terrible happen and then think: ‘Oh, I wish we’d had more officers on the street.’”
Esquimalt Coun. Lynda Hundleby said she will need a lot more information about the request before reaching a decision.
The Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria, a civic watchdog group, urged close scrutiny of Manak’s demands.
“We’re not criticizing the police request, but we’re calling upon the council to be absolutely satisfied that all reasonable means of mitigating this requested increase have been met,” said John Treleaven, the group’s vice-chairperson.
It’s the second year in a row that Manak has asked for six additional officers. His request last year was approved by Victoria council, but rejected by Esquimalt.
In response, Manak cut the school liaison program and deployed its three officers to the front-lines along with an intelligence officer, one reserve constable and one community services officer.
The province is still reviewing that dispute and has the power to overrule Esquimalt’s decision and order the municipality to pay for the six officers.
Manak said a decision is expected in early 2019.
Manak told Esquimalt council last week that, while the decision to cut the liaison program got the most attention, other areas have suffered as well.
“I can share with you that our reserve program is being run by a thread right now,” he said.
“We were going to start a new class in October. We were unable to do that because we don’t have a volunteer co-ordinator to actually run the class and co-ordinate it.
“I’ve got over 200 Crime Stoppers tips — where people are phoning anonymously to say that they know somebody who is either dealing drugs or has stolen property or whatever it might be — that are sitting on a desk and have not been touched.”
Manak said moving the six officers to patrol has been offset by an increase in the number of injured officers.
“I’ve got 25 officers off work right now that either have a physical injury or a psychological injury,” he told council. “And we’ve seen a higher level of violent assaults on our officers.
“So even if I’ve added the six to the frontlines, the challenge I’m having is they’re actually just replaced because I’ve got more officers that are off.”
